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Saturday, February 21, 2015

This month's Round Robin is about things you want to accomplish. Do you have a bucket list? I don't, not exactly, although there are some places I'd still like to visit like the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Louvre in Paris; but I would hate the plane ride over and back, so the journeys are unlikely. I'd like to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Field Museum in Chicago again. They are both close enough to drive and perhaps share with grand kids. We'd visit in the spring or fall because I hate leaving my garden in summer. The growing season is much too short here in Northern Michigan. One of the main reasons I don’t like traveling is I am most comfortable in my own house and surroundings. I do, however, have things I want to accomplish. I like creating 'things.'

About thirty plots and character lists are sitting in a file on my computer. I was going great guns until writing helped me get a great part-time job and slowed down my production. I've been working on two books for the last six months, one of which every time I write a few paragraphs I have to recheck my research or do more research. I'd really like to finish those two stories and move on to the ones waiting in that file. There is a problem there, too, as new stories and different characters keep invading my mind, and while writing this and other blog posts is good promotion and allows me personal expression, it takes time away from fiction writing.

I also have a quilt and some other needlework pieces that if I don't finish soon, the fabric and threads will start disintegrating from age. That is just one of my hobbies, although after the break I have had from picking up a needle, I don’t know if it falls into the ‘hobby’ category any longer. I also like to draw, paint, do calligraphy, make pin dolls, and bake bread. (I finally found a Russian Black Bread recipe that tastes like I remember from the defunct Pretzel Bell Restaurant!) I do a lot of Zen doodling (Pinterest) when I don’t have a book to read at night. Painted faux finishes in marble, leather, water, adobe, and other murals cover the walls of my house. The photo below shows one of my pastimes (see pin dolls for other designs). Reading falls in here, too, but I’ve covered that topic in a recent post. Yet, I often feel guilty devoting time to these activities, and I am not sure why. Maybe because I consider them just putzing around.

Angel Pin

My writing and my hobbies are my bucket list I guess. These things I want to finish and then continue with more new writing and craft projects. That said there are a few important events I want to witness: the graduation of my three grandchildren, and I'd like to share more time with my family, although they claim my visits too short. I suppose they are, but feel that no one wants to outwear their welcome, especially me.

So there it is, not quite a bucket list — just a continuation. What objectives are on your bucket or still to-do list?

Be sure to check the blogs of the following authors who are also blogging on bucket lists and future accomplishments:

The Roman words of nine are novem, and nonus, from which we get November or the Roman ninth month, and the word noveni meaning nine each. The Greeks used ennea or ennead for nine.

September is our ninth month now, but November was ninth month of Roman Calendar. The Roman Emperor Augustus had two months inserted, one in recognition of Julius Caesar and and one to immortalize himself. This turned November into the eleventh month. Nones was the Roman ninth day before the ides, which included the seventh day of March, May, July & October but the fifth of the other months. None is also the day's ninth hour, and a liturgical hour of prayer for Catholics.

In science Fluorine, F, is is ninth element on the periodic table. Nine is the cube of three. Humans have a nine month gestation period.

Bowling has nine pins to knock down with the bowling ball. Tic-tack-toe has nine squares, and craps has a 'niner from Carolina.' Every baseball team has nine players on a team and a game consists of nine
innings.

In the Christian religion nine choirs of angels: the Seraphim, Cherubim, Aeons, Hosts, Powers, Authorities, Principalities, Thrones, Archangels, Angels, and Dominions, although they are also known by different names. The Ninth Commandment is Thou shalt not bear false witness. None is the ninth hour after daylight set aside for prayer or around 3:00 PM, while a Novena is a period of prayer lasting nine days. Christ is believed to have expired in the ninth hour nailed to the cross.

A few associations with nine include the claim that nine is a holy number as it is the cube of the trinity.
Nine has been associated with descent of divine power to world. In the U.S. Great Seal, the eagle's tail consists of nine feathers.

The ninth house in astrology is the House of Sagittarius, symbolized by the archer. It is the house of intelligence, philosophy, and education including travel and interaction with others to achieve those goals.

In mythology and folklore, the Egyptians had nine deities in the Ennead, including the god
Atum and his children, grandchildren and great-grand children: Shu and Tefnut, their children Geb and Nut, and their
children Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Greek and Roman religion had the nine muses, Calliope who encouraged epic poetry, Clio who encouraged history, Euterpe whose domain was song, Erato who fostered lyric poetry, Melpomene who covered tragedy, Polyhymnia of hymns, Terpsichore of dance, Thalia of comedy, and Urania of astronomy. The Greeks believed in a nine-headed water monster called the Hydra.

In prophesy, nine is the last and greatest of the series of digits 1 through 9, which comprise the root of all things. Numerology assigns nine to the letters i, r. Nine is considered the greatest of all primary numbers because it contains the qualities of all the others. It reduplicates the creative power of three and stands for completeness. When multiplied by any other number, the sum of the digits making up the final number is always nine, which signifies a tendency towards egotism. Nine represents the pinnacle of mental and spiritual attainment, so becomes the number of consciousness. It is the Trinity of Trinities, and the first square of an odd number. Because it fell short of the perfect number 10, nine can be associated with failure. Because of the nine-month gestation period, it is the number of man. Nine represents a limitless number because there is nothing beyond it but the infinite combinations of it, the previous digits, and zero; therefore, it was associated with the ocean and a boundless horizon. Nine is sometimes regarded as evil because it is an inverted six.

In Tarot divination, the Hermit card is the ninth card and indicates pure intellect. Nine is the number of initiation and includes silent counsel, prudence, and discretion. It represents receiving wisdom from above, instruction from an expert or a meeting with a guide who sets the seeker on a path to material and spiritual attainment. It indicates the means to attain goals, but a journey may be a necessary to gain knowledge.

Nine, because of human gestation, represents life, creation, and the fulfillment of humanity.

Mars, because it has always been connected with war, indicates the inability to accept and work with the prevailing circumstances.

Nine in mythology and lore:
The nine white winged horses of Helios
The Greek Sun God
Sign: the scepter and the orb.

Common usage includes sayings like: 'As nice as a ninepence'; 'nine days’ wonder'; 'dressed to the nines'; 'nine lives of a cat'; 'on cloud nine'; and 'the whole nine yards.'

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Words and meanings interest me, and as a writer, often become important. Some words have vague meanings, others several different meanings, like a minute of time and in minute detail, and the exact definition needs clarification of the meaning desired in the writing. Every term I talk to my students about plagiarism, ethics, and morals. Many have a very imprecise concept of any of these terms, so I decided to explore it on my own. Perhaps then, I can help clarify it for myself and for them.

Ethics come from the Greek word ethos, used by Aristotelian in his philosophy approach of ethos, logos, and pathos, which when used in arguments led to understanding and solutions of issues. Ethos is the behavioral guidelines set up by a society, logos the logic involved, and pathos the appeal to the audiences’ compassion. Ethics became the rules for right and wrong within a society, the group’s law or code of conduct. If the Greeks were using ethos, logos, and pathos to discover the nuances of right and wrong, then these three properties must have become involved in human development long before then.

The French word etiquette, or the standard for polite interaction, also comes from this principle. What is interesting with the French word is the standards were vastly different for genders and classes within the society. An aristocratic man acted one way within the restrictions of his class for public deportment, but almost the opposite with the other class. This discrepancy in behavior has proven true within codified laws and the accepted behavior norms for other societies, too. Not so long ago the United States codified who was a citizen by race and gender. So, ethics can be a somewhat nebulous thing, but if someone breaks societal ethics, harsh punishment is often meted out to the guilty by society such as shunning, loss of reputation, name calling, and worse. Ethical standards can also change. Science, medicine, differing interpretations of wording, and social change can affect ethics.

Have humans always used some ethical standard? I do not know, but I know every group that lives together must have some standard or endure constant chaos. No matter how unprincipled or brutal the society or what tyrannical rules the group’s leadership follows, it follows some kind of ethical standard. As mentioned above, understanding of right and wrong can change, and certain former ‘ethics’ can now be seen as evil. My guess is that even prehistoric societies had these rules, perhaps even the Neandertals, who recent research has shown were not so different from the Homo sapiens. After all, humans are known to act irresponsibly, spiteful, and hateful, and also known to steal, injure others, lie, and cheat. Sometimes this is an aberration in a person’s behavior due to stress or situational events; then again, some humans are just reprehensible individuals whether from the affects of nature or nurture. Societies need protection from such people, which ethical standards supposedly establish.

Today we have volumes of law codes and philosophical and religious principles guiding our ethical standards, which still change from country to country and society to society. While the general American population follows the law codes of the nation and state, some sub groups like gangs live by their own code. Individuals develop their own codes too, sometimes in opposition to society’s accepted norms. Media often subtly supports this undermining of known standards, which might have evolved from America’s myth for rugged individualism (big supposition). Yet, for instance, how often in a fictional crime or investigation procedural show has a main character broken the legal or ethical standards of his profession to deal out a supposedly more appropriate punishment? In NCIS, the main character Gibbs has his own ‘rules,’ even when those rules counter those of his job.

Morals, on the other hand, while often used interchangeably with ethics, have a different meaning. The word comes from the Latin moralis, or proper manners. Morals are more about personal choices, each individual deciding what ethics they believe and follow. I suspect family often influences morals, but so could personal psychological issues, or a person's social dynamics within their society, or someone's personal situation.

Can a sociopath be a moral person? Yes: They may have no empathy (pathos) for anyone, but they are capable of following an ethical standard, and choosing to follow those standards would make them moral. Can a moral person be unethical? Yes: When their morals in a situation oppose the ethical standards of their society. Can a person’s morals change? Yes: If a person moves into an ethically different society, or if their morals lead them to an emotional or intellectual conflict they must resolve, morals can transform. Morals can also be very situational, such as the white lie given to prevent a friend’s suffering.

That means that in the end, ethics are guidelines, morals are choices. So, in another example from NCIS, the character Ducky tells his assistant Jimmy, “The difference between morals and ethics is the ethical man knows he shouldn't cheat on his wife, whereas the moral man doesn't cheat on his wife.” Most of us, luckily, choose to follow our society’s ethical standards, our morals, however, are often challenged. As mentioned above, moral choices can also lead to societal punishment. In many instances, though, a more personal punishment of guilt affects the transgressor, which can be lifelong and every bit as prosecutorial as any other form of punishment. After all, aren't we often our own worst judge and jury?

Thursday, January 29, 2015

I have to ask you, who does not like sky watching? During the daylight hours, it can take place anywhere, but at night, it is especially precious in rural areas faraway from ambient light, preferably on a cloudless night when the stars shine in all their glory. In between the light and dark of day and night, sunrises and sunsets can be extraordinarily gorgeous visual experiences, which is why so much artwork features them.

I do not know about you, but for me, seeing the night sky crowded with stars and the Milky Way is awe-inspiring, somehow putting my existence into perspective. Viewing the moon has been a human compulsion since prehistoric times not only to tell time but also to induce inspiration. It continues to hold its thrall for modern man, and now we have the added knowledge that man has visited there. (Off topic, I know, but left garbage there, too; so human.) Some hold dreams of inhabiting the moon’s harsh landscape, others of developing it as a weapons base. Even on cloudy night the moon can be breath taking. Its refracted light can illumine through layers of clouds. Atmospheric conditions sometimes creates halos of light around the moon, and a moon with wisps of clouds drifting by makes the perfect Halloween night. Yet, a full moon radiating the sun’s golden light in an otherwise empty sky makes me want to dance. With all the media announcements about impending meteorite shows, passing comets, eclipses, and northern lights, I know many of you share this sky-watching urge.

While all of these are wondrous sights and events, the beauty and variety of common clouds entrance me. Clouds are water molecules loosely attracted in the atmosphere by what humans have learned about chemistry and physics. Clouds indicate weather and can be friendly or threatening, but always awesome. Did you know some of those clouds, if you had the water molecules collected here on the Earth’s surface, would weigh a million or more pounds? Just because they float, does not mean they weigh nothing. They come is such a wide variety of forms, all with scientific names, but I prefer to recognize them as scattered puff balls, as long overlapping sheets of grey, white, and blue, or as wispy mare’s tails. In their astonishing shapes, I have seen dragons, sharks, warriors, eagles, and other imaginary phenomenon.

Sometimes I am saddened to think that after I die I will never see such sights again, which is silly because of the all too obvious realities. Anyhow, the thought does serve as a good warning to enjoy them while I can. The sky reminds us time passes, day and night, midday and midnight, and everyone only has a limited amount of time. So take a minute for one of the world’s common miracles and watch a few clouds. Do some sky watching and let the Earth, sun, and moon remind you of the miracle of our planet, and celebrate life. Plus, it's free.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Ever since I learned to read, I’ve had a ritual for reading before sleep. I read at other times too, like when I’m ill, or just taking a rare day off to read some story that really has me hooked, or sometimes when traveling to pass time (finished two novels I’d started last Thursday on a road trip), but I have to read for thirty or more minutes before I can fall asleep. Sometimes that can thirty minutes turns into hours and a short sleep time. It might have started with my parents reading to me before bedtime because early habits like that are hard to break. I did it with my children too, but haven't asked them if they read at night.

What surprises me is the number of people who never pick up a book after leaving high school. Many of my students admit to disliking reading. Various statistics put that number of non-readers after high school at between thirty and forty percent. Isn’t that astounding?

On average, I read about sixty novels a year in a variety of genres from romance to mystery and suspense to scifi and fantasy before sleep. I do not keep track of my non-fiction reading in research for stories or blog posts, and the non-fiction I read for interest (new science discoveries and history are big draws). Some things I've had to read for work, in those instances I make time to read, often in segments so I can comprehend the information. So, I guess what I'm saying is I have many methods for dealing with reading.

I wish I had a set ritual for writing, but my method is very helter-skelter happening as my thoughts engage in moving the plot forward. One book I wrote in six weeks start to publisher. Another I have worked on for years, and it is still incomplete. Work, life, and other types of writing also distract from story writing, plus I’ve become interest writing short fiction and non-fiction blog posts on various topics.

From reading, I have learned that most authors have their own particular writing methods and schedules, some sticking to a strict regimen; others more like me, when driven. This seems to be all a matter of personal preference and time available.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Part of world building for any story is relating it to the readers. Most already have 'favorite numbers' and most have what they think is coincidental information about certain numbers, but these beliefs have developed over literally millenia of using numbers. They are considered powerful concepts, which I used as part of a belief system in the fantasy series of the Aegis stories. So I continue with more factual, magical, and mythical information about numbers, this time eight.

Cardinal: EIGHT

Hindu-Arabic: 8

Ordinate: Eighth

Roman: VIII

Greek: Eta

Pythagorean number: the ogdoad

1+7, 2+6, 3+5, 4+4, 2x4, 2x2x2

The first cube number

The Roman word octo (octavus) indicated eight and gives us October
(the Roman 8th month), octave, octopus, and octagon.

Roman had an eight day week. The geometric symbol for eight is an octagon.
Oxygen (O) is the eighth periodic number. It is the first cube number (2x2x2). Cars used to routinely have eight cylinder engines, but now only select models, some SVUs and trucks have them.

In various religious associations, eight is the Christian
number of regeneration or resurrection. The Eighth Commandment is ‘Thou shalt
not steal.’ Jews practiced circumcision on the eighth day after birth. There
were eight sects of Pharisees, and eight prophets descended from Rahab. Triple eight (888) is number of Christ the redeemer.

In games, we have the eight ball in pool, and eight pawns on
each side in Chess.

Numerology assigns eight to the letters h, q, and z. The eighth
house is the House of Scorpio in Astrology. It is the number of material success
and worldly involvement because eight has four-fold balance because when halved
its parts are equal and when halved again they are still equal. The Greeks
considered it the number of justice because of its equal divisions. It
represents all that is solid and the complete. Eight represents cycles of time,
too, as the four seasons sub-divided once more into two solstices and
equinoxes. In Christian symbolism, it stands for afterlife. It is the number of
regeneration and of the Gods who accompanied Thoth. The figure eight represents
the joining of the two spheres of heaven and earth. It is the number of the
force, which exists between terrestrial order (the square) and external order
(the circle). Eight is associated with the Serpents of the Caduceus, the
balancing of forces, the equilibrium of different forms of power and with
infinity. Eight is the balance of cause and effect.

Eight is a mysterious number also associated with the
Eleusinian Mysteries and the Cabiri. Also called the little holy number. Eight
is a mysterious number also associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the
Cabiri. .

In Tarot divination, the eighth card represents strength,
which represents rest and victory, self-discipline and stability. It indicates
learning to balance between spiritual & carnal nature. It shows force of
character, spiritual power overcoming material power, love triumphing over
hate.

Saturn, which governs melancholy, reserve, limitations,
seriousness, economy, authority and the ability to accept and work with the
limitations of life symbolizes eight. It is the number of Demeter. The
Caduceus, the figure of Justice with a sword pointing upwards and a balance in
her left hand, also symbolizes eight. A double square and the infinity sign
(eight on its side) symbolize eight.

You might use common the slang phrase behind the eight ball
to show loss.

The date, 08/08/08 had impact in social media. From an article about weddings on
August 08/08 by Jennifer Lee in New York Times, 8/3/08: AFTER becoming engaged last
year in Paris, Grace F and her fiancé returned to New York to discover that
event spaces for their wedding on the second Friday of August were already
booked. The logjam was unusual for a Friday, but the date in question is this
Friday — 08/08/08. “As a homonym, the number 8 sounds like ‘good fortune’ in
Mandarin and Cantonese,” said Ms. F, who, like her fiancé, is of Chinese
descent.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Thousands of years ago, when people believed the world a flat circle,
Chronos (or Kronos) was one of the primordial gods with power of time and
space. Time of course, controls beginnings and endings. In some cases, legends present
Chronos as the father of chaos, sometimes the descendent of chaos. I tend to
think perhaps the second makes a more logical progression, but this is
mythology.

A Chronos-Cronus mix of the time god (clker.com)

.

Occasionally a serpent represents Chronos, which might have led to
the uroboros serpent, a snake caught in a circle eating its tail, which
represents an unending cycle. Images exist of Chronos guiding the astrological
wheel, another representation of time.

More often, Chronos is a long-bearded
man, although other sources show him as a serpent with three heads, one each of
a lion, a bull, and a man. Through time, this mythical figure intertwined with
other gods such as the Greek Titan Cronus, an agriculture god. Since
agriculture follows the seasons, a time element is involved here, too, and it
is where the image of father time, an old man with a scythe, came from. Prophesy
proclaimed Cronus would eat his own children. His son Zeus escaped the cycle
and became the new leader of the gods. Cronus becomes reincarnated as the Roman
god Saturn (some sources claimed Saturn was Cronus, the old god having escaped
the retribution of Zeus). Is that confusing or what? They all combine to
produce the figure of father time we celebrate every New Year's Eve.

With the ties to time and agriculture, the sickle or scythe becomes a symbol of
time, changing the tool from one used to harvest grains to one harvesting life.
Chronos supposedly watched over, perhaps regulated, past, present, and future
time, which is also a new theory in physics.
In Roman mythology, Saturn and Rhea were Titans, elder gods who were the children
of heaven and earth, parents who sprang from the loins of Chaos. Isn’t it funny
how they were so near the creation that we believe? Thomas Bulfinch
in his Bulfinch’s Mythology(1) claims Saturn 'devoured all of his children
except Jupiter (air), Neptune (water), and Pluto (the grave).' This, of course,
ties back to the prophesy affecting the Greek god Chronos and his unorthodox
habit. This also seems to indicate that Saturn not only controlled life, since
without air and water most life expires, and as 'the grave' indicates death or
ending, but also might relate to control over human reality. The Uroboros, and
sadly Cronus and Saturn eating their children, seems to show that time devours
everything, an underlying truth about all life and matter.

Chronos lives with us still became his name became the prefix chrono-
indicating time as used in chronology, chronicle, chronological, and
chronometer.

The month January is name after the god Janus, the two faced god, one face
looking behind him, one looking forward. He oversaw pathways and transitions,
so guarded gates. Tonight he closes one gate and opens another. In some
respects time, pathways, and transitions, Chronos, Cronos, Saturn, and Janus
all blend together on this night before the New Year.
Happy New Year!